Uncut Attire

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Dakota Mace/courtesy Center for Design and Material Culture

A Guatamalan blouse.

Huipil (blouse) by Kaqchikel Maya Sololá, Guatemala, 1965-1975.

The UW-Madison's Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection is one of the unsung assets of the school. For the exhibit Uncut Attire: How Weaving Informs Wearables, curators have drawn from the collection to examine how weaving, as a form, has influenced clothing design. Some cultures have developed woven forms for garments that involve no cutting or sewing — hence the name of this show, which ultimately prompts viewers to reconsider our own fast fashion trends. Find gallery hours at cdmc.wisc.edu.

media release: September 14–December 4 | Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery

Uncut Attire: How Weaving Informs Wearables, on view September 14-December 4, 2022, in the Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery, is an examination of globally created historic and contemporary woven garments made with minimal to no cutting or wasted fabric. In the age of skin-tight fashion, clothing is often made out of knitted plastics that cling directly to the body like a second skin. Microscopic shedded scales from these plastic garments have even been found to have entered into our bloodstream. These woven, uncut garments show an alternative and more sustainable way of wearing cloth. The relationship between clothing and the body is intimate. Using clothing and fabric from the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection, this exhibition looks at practices of handwoven clothing and their connections to the body.

Weaving is an ancient, global textile practice. Weaving traditions have developed over hundreds of generations, creating new forms, techniques, and patterns. It is a time-intensive endeavor set within the parameters and capabilities of the loom. Complex patterns can be achieved with a breadth of techniques, materials, and dyes to create extraordinary designs.

With the development of new industrial ways to make fabric over the past three centuries, as well as more globalized fashion markets, weavers and consumers have become further removed from each other. Through industrialization and unequal power dynamics, Western fashion trends moved towards cut, tailored garments that waste portions of the fabric and accentuate the body form. Instead of considering the fabric on the body, the body became the focus.

Uncut Attire invites visitors to take a look at the juxtaposition between tailored fashion and uncut garments, and how they are influenced by environment, values, and labor. Exhibition curator and Design Studies PhD student Addison Nace explains, “Handweaving requires patience and time. After spending hours working on a woven piece, would you want to cut it up? Uncut Attire shows fashion that celebrates woven fabrics and minimizes waste by using all or most of the textile. These pieces are designed to compliment the body and allow it room to move and grow, not replicate body shape.”

Most of the work on display is either uncut or has minimal cutting in the constriction of the garment. Those that are cut use most, if not all, of the fabric it is made from, minimizing waste. This is in stark contrast to much of Western fashion today, which emphasizes tailoring to hug the body. This practice wastes fabric, which in the context of “fast fashion,” adds another dimension to the environmental impact Western fashion has on the planet.

Associate Professor in Design Studies and Executive Director of the Center for Design and Material Culture Dr. Sarah Anne Carter adds, “Uncut Attire highlights the research possibilities and the global reach of The Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection. By focusing on woven garments, exhibition curator and Design Studies PhD student Addison Nace invites creative connections between the studies of textiles and the study of fashion, two areas that do not always intersect, but should. This exhibition raises questions about design for sustainability, the study of global textiles, the history and future of fashion, and cross-cultural ideas about the body. These are important questions for designers of all kinds.”

Uncut Attire: How Weaving Informs Wearables was developed with generous support from the Anonymous Fund. Opening reception for this exhibition will be Thursday, September 15. To learn more about the exhibit and upcoming related programs,visit cdmc.wisc.eduor sign up to receive the latest gallery news and events by email.